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The Lost Mine of Phandelver
During the first chapter of Dingles and Drangles, The Lost Mine of Phandelver, Gundren Rockseeker hires Baby Squad to locate and bring prosperity to a forgotten mine, Wave Echo Cave, nearby the town of Phandalin. This campaign was Co-DM'd by Alex Scott and Paul who entirely rewrote the original module to make it a homebrew. Part 1: Goblin Arrows... Two brothers, Gundren and Tharden Rockseeker, rediscover clues to a lost relic cave system. They hire the Baby Squad to find it and reopen it to the nearby city of Phandalin, returning it to it's former glory. The adventure begins as the player characters are escorting a wagon full of provisions and supplies from Neverwinter to Phandalin. The journey takes them south along the High Road to the Triboar Trail, which heads east. When they're a half-day's march from Phandalin, they run into trouble with goblin raiders from the Cragmaw tribe. The group is overpowered and Gundren and his brother are dragged off into a cave mouth. Cragmaw Hideout Following the goblins' trail, they come across a large cave in a hillside five miles from the scene of the ambush. They traverse the interior and attempt to rescue Sildar Hallwinter, a friend of Gundren, from six goblins who hold him prisoner. The goblin leader, Yeemik, is second-in-command of the whole hideout. He sees that the group are getting the upper hand, grabs Sildar and drags him over to the edge of the upper level. Yeemik wants to oust Klarg, his superior, and become the new boss. He demands they bring him Klarg's head. They do proceed to bring him Klarg's head but smash it like a pumpkin in front of him, making it no longer a valid or useful trophy of power. They escape with Sildar, who explains he is a part of The Lord's Alliance, and joined Gundren to find his friend Iarno Albrek, somewhere in Phandalin. Part 2: Phandalin... The group find lodging in Phandalin at The Stonehill Inn and hear of a man killed in front of his family by a clan of bandits, the Redbrand Ruffians. Investigating for their headquarters the Baby Squad find a tower that only appears in moonlight, resided by a Songstress. The Songstress is a female songster, in a cursed form, and tells of great truths but also greater misconceptions. The Songstress reacts with disdain towards Kai and allows the rest to obtain a hidden heirloom she guards, that belongs to Lindsey. They meet Lindsey, who explains when she was a young girl, she and her family fled from the town of Reidoth after undead overran the place. They hid in the cursed tower and planted a Songstress to guard their fortune until they could get on their feet again. A woman named Qelline Alderleaf takes in the group for the night on her farm and her young son, Karp, tells of a hidden passageway he found. This leads to the Redbrand Hideout. Redbrand Hideout The heroes sweep into the Redbrand Hideout like incendiaries, cool as the night. They find a letter left in the quarters of a man named Glassstaff, addressed only by a mysterious spider insignia. Sildar breaks in on his own initiative only to reveal that the Redbrand leader, Glassstaff, is his lost friend Iarno. Kai’s initial failed attempt to eavesdrop gashed his head in upon the hinges of a door. After an ancient game of jacks, known as “Knucklebones”, the then-drunk Ruffians helped restore Kai’s physical state with bandages, freeing up his hand. Don Chunkk, with unrivaled might kicked in the next door to a room of four Bugbears, demeaning a small goblin for their entertainment. With a broad, critical achievement of Intimidation, Don Chunkk and the gang stole a key and some information from the group’s leader, Mosk. Paytur found a dwarven tome that told of the cave's violent past, of the slaughter of thousands of dwarven workers by drows and of the Lightbringer. They learn that Cragmaw Castle, a place briefly mentioned by Sildar earlier as a potential location to find Rockseeker, is due north from Phandalin, through the trees. They also gained a new recruit, the aforementioned goblin, Droop. Small and wise, Droop is trained to learn a class and knows secret passageways hidden around the manor. Heading on their way, the group found themselves in a natural cavern and a chasm, divided by two bridges. A nothic, an insane subterranean monster that hungers for flesh, was seen briskly hiding behind a rock as they entered. Hoping to get to a hidden storage room, Oneshoe (Pablo) and the group tamed the nothic with a dead body from earlier. It worked and they found and looted crates. Crossing back over the bridge to Sildhar, Andran was thrown to the exit with success. They find Lindsey's family in a jail cell and clear out the hideout. They bring Droop to a young elf that looks after the shrine of luck in Phandalin named Sister Garaele. She trains Droop to be a cleric and sends them on their way. Part 3: The Spider's Web... Sildhar suggests to the group that they find Reidoth, a deserted town north, to learn more about Gundren's disappearance. The group run into and defeat Glassstaff, with Droop's help, and learn that he was only evil under the curse of his staff, employed by someone named "Black Spider". He dies and Campdenth takes his staff. Reidoth Baby Squad's entrance to Reidoth is met with the attack of an Owlbear. The scarce, charred buildings provide little cover but the group succeed. They enter Cragmaw Castle pretending to be a travelling band. They put a group of goblin's to sleep but anger their leader, Yegg, in the great hall. Yegg is the chief cook for the Cragmaws, and he viciously bullies his unwilling assistants as they go about the work of putting food on the tribe's table. Yegg is killed, and any goblins left alive flee the area. They fight a chained Sloth in the castle and move forwards to the king's quarters. King Grol is a fierce, old bugbear. He rules the Cragmaws through pure intimidation. Age has stooped his shoulders and hunched his back, but he remains surprisingly agile and strong. He is demanding and vindictive, and no Cragmaw dares to cross him. Grol is attended by Snarl, a wolf, and a doppelganger disguised as a female drow. The doppelganger, Vyerith, is a messenger from the Black Spider, come to collect Gundren Rockseeker and the map of Wave Echo Cave from King Grol. Grol wants to sell the map instead of surrendering it, and he and the drow negotiate a price. Vyerith first wants to question Gundren to find out if anyone else knows the location of the mine. She then intends to kill him and sell the map. Gundren is previously poisoned by spider venom but is accidentally rushed to death when Andran misses a ranged, arrow shot, aimed for Grol and rushed into. The group, having now obtained the map, leave Cragmaw. Conyberry The group find themselves in the small town of Conyberry. A once prosperous town has been ransacked, pillaged, and the members of the community have been mutilated, dismembered, and killed. They received word of this pillaging from Targor Bloodsword, a returning hobgoblin from Conyberry, and that the hobgoblins had taken a boy hostage. The group disposed of the immediate threat in Conyberry, and entered the building that they saw the boy get dragged into. Andran and Kai managed to sneak by the guard dragonling, and worked their way downstairs. The rest of the group waited outside of the building until their restlessness set in, and they too tried to venture into the house. The rest of the group was not as lucky unfortunately, and had awoken the dragonling causing it to breathe noxious fumes into the air. Campdenth managed to calm the dragon down release it from its shackles, and make an unusual “acquaintance” in the process. As Andran and Kai continued through the basement, they managed to get the jump on a guard after knocking out the torches around. The guard immediately dropped his weapon in a surrendering fashion, and ran upstairs and out the door. The group then reconvened in the basement where they were faced with a moral dilemma. “To kill or not to kill, that is the question.” was ringing through all of their minds. In the end they choose not to kill the hobgoblin women or babies, as well as the guards. The key they obtained from the dragonling was used on the door in the basement to reveal a bruised and beaten Karp Alderleaf. He quickly recognizing the group jumped up and ran towards them for comfort. They comforted Karp and returned him to Qelline, who was ever grateful but unable to give the group lodging for the night. They returned to the Stonehill Inn where they were greeted with food, drinks and a place to stay from Toblen Stonehill. The morning after the group perused some shops in town buying and selling a few items. Part 4: Wave Echo Cave... Following the map to Thundertree, the group make well with a dragon mother. Gradually, the trail becomes an old, overgrown lane winding between dilapidated buildings choked in vines and brush. Ahead of themselves, in the middle of the settlement, rises a steep hill, upon which stands a stone tower with a partially collapsed roof and an adjoining cottage. A dirt road hugs the base of the hill and wends its way between old stone houses, many of which are roofless ruins with interiors open to the weather. Other buildings appear more or less intact. The whole place is eerily silent and still. The heirloom acquired earlier is the key to opening the cave and the Baby Squad enter. Navigating the darkness proves to be hard and after fighting a Beholder the group use the Forge of Spells to enhance their weapons and acquire the Lightbringer. They enter an opening in the middle of the cave. They see before them a black chasm. The floor vanishes and falls to an unknown depth. The other side can only be reached by a slender bridge of stone, without kerb or rail, that spans the chasm with one curving spring of fifty feet. It’s an ancient defense against any enemy who might get this far. One could only pass across it single file. Don Chunkk goes along the bridge alone first but is dropped to his knees by enchantment. Yeemik walks along the bridge in the opposite direction, now more trained, and begins to break Don Chunkk's neck when he is thrown off by the spared hobgoblins earlier. The group face off against Black Spider, who explains that the dwarven tome is propaganda, and that his family and lineage were wiped out when the dwarves hired undead to excavate the cave. He explains to Kai that he killed the Songstress, who only feared him because of their similar goal: to become a God. Nezznar the Black Spider is joined by four giant spiders that defend their master to the death. Expecting trouble, the spiders hide behind pillars, and Nezznar (Black Spider) casts invisibility on himself and stands near the table. Black Spider is defeated. Campdenth then notices a large statue. The statue depicts Dumathoin, the dwarven god of mining. The statue is beautifully carved, and its emerald eyes appear extremely valuable. However, the jewels are clever fakes made of worthless glass, a close inspection would have revealed. Nevertheless, a powerful spell protects them, and a detect magic spell reveals a strong aura of abjuration magic surrounding the statue. Campdenth climbed the statue easily and managed to pry a jewel loose. However, if either eye is removed, the pillars that line the walls crack, triggering a ceiling collapse. The Baby Squad escapes before the entire cave collapses and are unsuccessful in bringing the mine back to it's prominence, their original goal. Nonetheless, they make their way back to Sister Garaele who shows them now that Droop is a grown goblin. Their deeds will still be long remembered in this corner of the Sword Coast.